‘Wasn’t expecting’: Reaction mixed to new Nat Phillips contract

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Liverpool announced on Tuesday that Nat Phillips has a new four-year contract with the club. Reaction to the news was quite mixed.

Nat Phillips agreed to a new contract with Liverpool this week. The Athletic claims it’s for four years.

It comes as a surprise, too. Initial reports on Tuesday suggested Liverpool wanted to sell Phillips, with a £12m asking price in mind.

No one made the right offer, however, and now Phillips will remain with the club. He’s earned the right to stay long-term, too, with this new deal.

You can read our initial reaction here. In short, we understand Liverpool’s side of it but it’s a strange move from Phillips. He guarantees himself a higher wage, certainly, but we just don’t see how he’ll play.

Returning players and new signing Ibrahima Konate leave Phillips as fifth choice. That’s not a comfortable position to be in.

Regardless, he’s sticking around for now. And on a day when Liverpool weren’t expecting to do much in terms of signing, reaction to this one was quite mixed.

Some Liverpool fans react to new Nat Phillips contract

We’ve left out the really abusive ones, naturally. But Liverpool were always stoking a fire by announcing this today. Fans want signings, fans aren’t getting signings, but here’s a new deal for a fifth-choice centre-back.

What do you expect?

But in truth, the reaction really is mixed. Many fans understand the positives here – Liverpool now have real depth in centre-back, while they’re guaranteeing Phillips’ price stays high.

On the other hand, as one fan points out, they’ve run into a problem here before. Divock Origi got a five-year contract right after his Champions League heroics and hasn’t done anything since.

Now Liverpool are stuck with his wages on the books and can’t shift him. A similar situation with Phillips is a real ‘worry’.

But you can’t say he didn’t earn such a situation. If Phillips wants to stick around and fight for a place, his performances last season grant him that.

This wasn’t exactly the news fans wanted to read today, though.